Equivalent to Three Granules of Sugar

That’s the amount of lead it takes to poison a child. One milligram of dust. What’s in your home? At your child’s school? When was that old bookcase in the corner painted?

This article is about a little boy in Baltimore. It’s a must read. Click here.

This excerpt is important to every parent in the U.S.

Beyond industrial cities

While aging industrial cities are the most vulnerable to lead poisoning, no city is exempt from the hazardous history of lead paint. Even small towns and rural communities are at risk. In addition to major industrial cities, the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative has worked to eliminate lead poisoning in a number of locations nationwide, including southern cities like Austin, San Antonio, and Atlanta and places like Marin County, California.

And yet, because states monitor the number of children with lead poisoning on a volunteer basis in exchange for CDC funding, not all states have signed up for the challenge. As a result, many citywide lead problems go unnoticed. As of earlier this year, only 26 states had reported recent data on blood lead levels to the CDC, and another 13 states had not reported any data. InBaltimore and beyond, children like Freddie Gray suffer every day from an illness not only lacking in visibility and awareness, but in the information required to make a difference.

In reality, investing in the reduction of lead poisoning is meaningful on a number of levels. “The poisoning of our children is a health issue, but it’s also a civil justice issue and an economic development issue,” Wen says. “It ties into everything else in our city.”